I still own my first chess computer, a tabletop model I bought in 1989. It had plenty of levels, but at that time even the low levels were able to kick my butt. Despite my lack of success in defeating the danged device, I became fascinated by chess computers – within a year I owned three tabletop models and a portable “peg” style model. Continue reading →

Another way to “speed up” your chess engine (Fritz, Rybka, Hiarcs, Junior, or Shredder) is through the use of transposition tables, also known as hash tables. Proper use of these tables doesn’t actually make your chess engine analyze any faster (it’ll still evaluate the same number of positions per second), but you will get deeper searches in the time you allot to the analysis, because transposition tables ensure that the engine won’t waste time by re-evaluating board positions which have already been evaluated earlier in the search. Continue reading →

I’ve spent the last few blog posts writing about chess engines (chessplaying computer programs), and it’s for a reason – this is all headed somewhere. We’re going to be looking at using a chess engine for chess training and analysis, not just in the native Fritz12 and Rybka4 interfaces, but also in ChessBase 11. But before we go there, we need to look at a couple of important (and only slightly technical) details of which you should be aware. Continue reading →

Coming up in the near future we’ll be using this blog to discuss chess engine functions in ChessBase 11, Fritz12, Rybka4, etc. But before we jump into detailed explanations of these functions, it’s a good idea to take the time to review some of the basic concepts and visual displays relating to chessplaying programs in ChessBase software. Continue reading →

Experienced users of the Fritz12 and Rybka4 chess playing programs should already be aware of the variety of ways to “handicap” the chess engine so that an average chessplayer can get a competitive game without getting his or her head torn off by the engine playing at full-bore strength; the interface provides a “Friend” mode as well as “Handicap and fun” mode for this purpose. However, a few novice chessplayers have expressed a desire to play against an easier engine. If you’re one of those players we’ve got you covered there, too, with a simple download – and best of all (well, to me at least), the engine has some really cool history behind it. Continue reading →